Indianapolis Motor Speedway: 100+ years

A bird's-eye view of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

This postcard shows the indomitable Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as seen from the air looking south. The 559 acre facility was opened in 1909 for balloon, motorcycle and auto racing. The first 500 mile race was held in 1911.

Last year the speedway celebrated the 100th anniversary of the speedway. This year race, scheduled for Sunday, May 27, 2012, will be the 96th running of the race. It closed only during World War II, 1942-1945.

I date this photo postcard sometime after 1957 when a new control tower was built but before grandstands in the fourth turn at the southwest end were built. Today, yet another control tower is in place.

This postcard, along with several others, was purchased by me at the track during the 1964 race. I was 11 at the time and loved aerial views. Looking at the picture postcard now, I see it's publisher, the speedway, could have benefited from some cropping, flipping, and editing. Though the intent was to show the size of the speedway complex, a two and a half mile rectangular course, complete with 18 hole golf course inside and outside the race track, many details are out of focus.

In the 100-plus years of the speedways have seen many firsts. One of the novel changes to the usual racing milieu was the flying start. Instead of the cars lined up on the track at the starting, as in Formula 1 races of today, the start of the Indianapolis begins when the starter waves the green flag as the cars approach the starting line. The cars are arranged in 11 rows with three cars in each row. Most automobile races begin with cars two abreast. The effect of 33 cars exceeding 200 mph is both frightening and awe inspiring.

You can find four homemade videos of the Indianapolis 500 flying start below. The video gives you but a hint of the speed, the noise and the excitement of the flying start.

Find other Indianapolis Speedway postcards from my collection here.

Misspelled postcards

A couple of images today from Alaska's past to show the majesty of nature and the frailty of humanity. The images above have beautiful scenes adorned with misspelled words. The titles of these two photo postcards should read, "Alaska" not "Alsaska" and "Nanook" not "Nonook." It proves, if nothing else, that people occasionally misspell words. We all know that and tend to look the other way. We know by the context what was meant.

On the other hand, a local candidate is suing the state of Alaska because he believes that every voter should also be perfect spellers. In the Alaskan U.S. senate race, Joe Miller is trailing Lisa Murkowski by a large margin. Miller disputes more than 2,000 write-in ballots. He has questioned ballots that read, "Murkowski, Lisa" and "Murkowsky" and "Merkowski." He has also rejected a ballot in which the first letter of Lisa's name was written in cursive. The down side of all this on Miller's part is that by interpreting the law so strictly he risks disenfranchising voters, especially people who don't always cross every "t" and dot every "i" -- like so many Alaskan voters for whom English is their second language or for whom like me never won a spelling bee.

Oh Canada, where pines and fireweeds grow...

Terry a member of Postcrossing from Canada sent this beautiful mountain from the Valley of the Ten Peaks in Banff National Park. I like the contrast of the majestic and rugged mountains with the delicate fireweeds. This beautiful magenta petalled wild plant is common not only to both Canada and Alaska but in the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The plant gets its name for its ability to reestablish on burnt over lands. It often covers fields left fallow or abandon construction sites. I guess nature abhors an ugly vacuum.
Some say they are forecasters of coming of winter but I've found this to be a dubious claim in the absolute sense. I've heard all sorts of predictions. When three rows of blooms are left there are three weeks before the first snow. Or when the plant is in full bloom it means six weeks to winter. One problem with all these prophecies is the lack of defining what constitutes winter. Some people mean the first snow. Others the fall equinox. Some vacillate between both to fit the prediction. I think all plant legends are generally accurate on a local basis with occasional aberrations accepted when they are given by a local who has observed the seasons for a life time or is heir to many generations accumulated observations. From my observations in the interior of Alaska for just shy of two decades, I can say with general certainty: when I see the blossoms fall from the top my snow gear is ready to go.